The Last Ones
by Hellbat Schilt
Summary: 30XX... It has finally happened. Humans are almost extinct. Only a single human has been recovered so far and is placing her life in the hands of a reploid designed to protect her. Now, they're on a quest to find a male and hopefully save the human race. Only contains violence.
1. Introduction

**The Last Ones**

_**500 years after the events of Megaman ZX Advent...**_

_The date is... Monday... January 1__st__... 30XX... One year since the human race became endangered. I carry the last one with me. She's peculiar. She doesn't seem to be quite sane sometimes. She's not normal either. Probably because of her insanity. My mission is to find a male and hopefully save the human race, but this won't be easy. Thank my creator for building me with precautions. The first reason of my existence is to protect the humans if anything should happen, but since I'm a reploid, anything can happen._

"Are you done writing yet?" a girl asked as she stood in the doorway of the room they stayed in, making the reploid sigh.

"Saigo. No," the reploid said. "Can't you find anything to do here?"

The girl, apparently named Saigo, shook her head. "It's just filled with office supplies."

The reploid ran his hand through his hair. Thank goodness she was sane right now. "It is a corporate building after all, I guess..."

Saigo nodded. "It's boring here."

"Yet another thing," the reploid thought. "She's only fifteen. This doesn't make things easier."

Saigo started to busy herself by forming a slingshot that flung paper clips and kept shooting it into the reploid's hair.

"Stop," the reploid said, keeping his tone level.

"We've been stuck here for two weeks. I'm going crazy just staying here," Saigo said. She smirked. "I have my ways of making you do it too."

"Fine, fine," the reploid said as he shoved his journal into his pocket and got up from his chair. "Let's go."

Saigo and the reploid made their way downstairs and Saigo asked, "So how come there's friendly reploids and then there's the not so friendly reploids?"

The reploid shrugged. "I can't say. Model W was wiped out." Then again, all of the biometals were... "The Maverick Virus was wiped out with the Mother Elf..." He shrugged again. "Can't say."

Feeding her was another matter as well. Food was scarce as some of the wildlife had died and only a few reploids in the world were actually farming. Luckily, she seemed to be able to feed herself... he didn't ask how but nonetheless was grateful. Sometimes though, he had to go out and get something for her as she started to mumble nonsense.

The reploid hopped into a large truck that had a lift kit as well as a large chaingun on the back. A lot of technology had been lost, not to mention another energy shortage, so they reverted back to using bullets. He revved up the engine as Saigo hopped into the passenger seat with a frown.

"I hate it how this car is jacked up so high," she said as she strapped herself in.

"You live with what you have, kid," the reploid said as he drove off and shifted through the gears.

He drove through the vacant streets as fast as he could, swerving so as not to hit some wandering reploids. Whether they were friend or foe, he didn't know and so treated them the same. Luckily this car was sustained by its own generator, but it only had enough energy for it to drive. It couldn't go to the chaingun as well while driving, not to mention that the chaingun couldn't even use plasma.

"Where to?" the reploid asked and Saigo slowly smiled.

"My favorite?" she asked shyly.

"Then that's where we'll go," the reploid said as he shifted directions into a forest.

As he entered, he slowed down to avoid crashing into anything. The trip was long and bumpy, but they arrived at the edge of a hill overlooking a lake just as the sun started to go down.

"You've got five minutes," the reploid said and let Saigo race to the edge of the lake where she started to wade in the water up to her waist. He could see her shivering, but she smiled nonetheless. "So much like a little girl," he whispered to himself as the wind picked up and made his black cloak flutter around him.

He walked down the hill and sat down next to the edge as he skipped rocks. It was the same thing every time they went to the lake. A faint smell caught his nose and he sniffed.

"Smells like..." the reploid's eyebrows shot up and he leapt to his feet. "Saigo! Get down!" he yelled and Saigo immediately dived down into the depths of the lake as the reploid made his way slowly up the hill, his two pistols clutched tightly in his hands.

He peeked over the edge of the hill and shook his head. "Great." The truck was in flames and the rounds inside the chaingun exploding. "No!" he yelled as he remembered something and poured a foul liquid over himself before he jumped into the passenger's side of the truck and opened the glove box, the flames licking his clothes but not burning them. He grabbed a small medallion and flung himself into the tops of an adjacent tree as the truck gave a final burst of flame before it started to die down.

"There goes our transportation," he said as he landed back on the ground. At the most, he wanted to save the chaingun as well. As well as Saigo's pistol. Oh well... Nothing he could do now.

He made his way back down the hill and to the lake cautiously as he looked for any reploids that might be lurking around. "Saigo. I'm here," he said. He waited for a few minutes before Saigo finally emerged to the top of the water.

"What happened?" she asked as she took her medallion and cleaned it before putting it around her arm.

"Someone decided to destroy the truck," the reploid said as he pointed in the direction of the smoke with his thumb. "Once we get the chance, I'll steal another one."

It wasn't hard to steal cars since they were everywhere. Few of the cars had their own generators though. Those were the kind he liked, but he'd have to make do for now.

Saigo got out of the water, thoroughly soaked. She shook her head, letting some of the water fall out of her shoulder-length hair. "So what now?"

The reploid shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. We've traveled... how far?"

Saigo thought about it for a moment. "Well, we've traveled from California over to here in Virginia, so that's a long way."

"Good enough for me," the reploid said as he wrapped his cloak around a shivering Saigo. "How're we supposed to find another human? It's like searching for a bead in a very large haystack."

"Father will help us. I'm sure of it," Saigo said as she clutched the medallion close to her.

"Your father's dead, Saigo," the reploid said flatly. "There's nothing he can do."

"That's how little you understand of my family," Saigo said as she continued to clutch the medallion.

The reploid sighed. "Whatever. I found your family to be just plain weird."

Saigo's eyes opened and she shoved the reploid to the ground. "Don't speak of my family like that! We were chosen for the end! I just know it!"

"Yeah. And guess what happened to them," the reploid retorted as he got up.

"I don't want to fight you, Heiki," Saigo muttered darkly. "You know what I can do."

Heiki turned away as he said, "I don't really care. Follow me. If you insist, I won't talk about your family."

Saigo grunted as she followed Heiki back up the hill. They went past the smouldering wreckage of the truck and made their way towards the highway. Cars littered the highway, but they were of no use. The gas or energy was all gone and the ones with generators were taken. Heiki and Saigo made their way past the cars, headed towards the next city. With luck, they might be able to get a car... or with connections they could get one.

"So why do you protect me even though you're not very favorable towards me sometimes?" Saigo asked behind Heiki.

Heiki stopped and sighed. "I was built to do it."

"So you don't enjoy it."

Heiki turned around to gaze at her from the corner of his eye. "I do. Sometimes. When you aren't being annoying."

"I don't try to, you know," Saigo said.

"Seems like it sometimes," Heiki said as he turned back and resumed his course. A few minutes passed in silence until he asked, "So, remind me of what your family was again."

"We were Shamans," Saigo reminded. "We use the spirits of the world to do our will."

Heiki nodded. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"From my dad," Saigo said. "We didn't use it a lot though. Only when we needed to."

"Except for your brother," Heiki said.

"Yes..." Saigo said sadly. "Except for him."

"So where'd your father learn it?" Heiki asked.

Saigo hesitated. "He said that a bear spirit came to him and told him that he would need skills if the humans were to survive."

Heiki nodded. "Do you believe that?"

"Not really, but I just know that I can do it," Saigo said as she shrugged.

"Good enough," Heiki said.


	2. A Deal

Heiki ran into a large skyscraper, protecting himself from the rain by pulling his hood on. Saigo ran behind him, using a jacket to serve as cover. Heiki pulled his hood off as he entered and walked over to the receptionist that was at the front building as Saigo hung the jacket on a drying rack.

"You want something, sir?" the receptionist asked.

"They still have you?" Heiki asked. "I was expecting them not to have a receptionist."

"My employers don't feel comfortable around other reploids." The receptionist gazed over Heiki's shoulder at Saigo and said, "And your friend is a human?"

"Yes," Heiki said, making a mental note to put the little upside down triangle on Saigo's forehead.

"You know where my employers are," the receptionist said as he looked at some reports.

"Thank you," Heiki said as he walked up the stairs, Saigo on his heels.

"What're we doing here?" Saigo asked as she caught up.

"We're visiting some friends that I know. They can probably get us a car. A car that I like," Heiki said as he knocked on a door.

"Come in," a voice called.

"You can talk around these reploids," Heiki told Saigo as he opened the door.

Two reploids, one clothed in a black Mega Man shirt and shorts with a visor attached to his ears, the other clothed in a white cloak with a grey shirt underneath, his grey pants tucked inside of his brown leather boots.

"Heiki, good to see you again," the one in black said with a smile. "Anything you want?"

"Most likely," the other one smirked.

Heiki chuckled. "Yeah. My other form of transportation got blown up by some idiot. This time though, I've brought someone." Heiki brought Saigo to the front and said, "This is Saigo, hopefully only one of the last humans alive."

The one in black smiled as he extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Saigo. I'm Kemnee."

Saigo took his hand gratefully. "Glad to meet you, Kemnee. You wouldn't happen to be the one from all those years ago, would you? Post-Grey and Ashe period?"

"Looks like this one knows her history," the one with the cloak said with a grin.

"And you're his brother, right?" Saigo asked and the one with the cloak nodded. "Shouji."

Shouji nodded again. "So what do you need, Heiki? Most likely something that doesn't deal with me."

"I may need you. I'm thinking about it," Heiki replied. "I need a new car."

"What kind?" Kemnee asked as he scrambled to get a blueprint and a pencil.

"I was thinking of a truck with its own generator to keep it going," Heiki said.

"You know it needs coolant, right? Coolant isn't quite the easiest thing to come around anymore," Kemnee said with a grimace. "Shouji and I are on our hands and knees to pick up some coolant for ourselves. We're trying to get another company going though, so hopefully we'll be able to generate our own coolant and somehow keep both companies going. We mostly get employment from the government, which I'm not altogether pleased with, but we do what we have to. We have a contract to design new stuff and make prototypes."

Heiki nodded. "I know what you and Shouji are going through, but I need transportation."

"I would recommend getting information on where another human might be before we create anything," Shouji said.

"I would have to agree with Shouji on this one," Kemnee said. "At least a general idea of where a human would be. I'm guessing a male, right?" Heiki nodded. "In places filled with reploids, this'll be hard."

"I thought it'd make it easier," Saigo said.

"No, because this human may know that reploids might kill him so he's keeping a low profile which makes it harder to find him," Kemnee said.

"And that's assuming that there actually is one out there," Shouji added.

"Thank you, Shouji, for lightening the mood," Kemnee said, but not altogether harshly.

"I'm just saying that there might not be one out there," Shouji said with a shrug. "We can't live in a fantasy world."

Kemnee sighed. "I guess you're right, but I can't believe that Saigo's the last human."

"Whether people say that there's one out there or not, I've gotta keep on looking. Not until I'm sure that there isn't one will I stop looking," Heiki said firmly. "But I can't look for one without transportation."

Kemnee sighed. "As a friend, I would gladly give you one, but as a businessman, I don't know if we would be able to handle it."

"Surely Kemnee Rauc can produce something," Heiki said, frowning slightly.

Kemnee looked over to Shouji before turning back and sighing. "All right, all right. If it'll help. Give us about a month, okay?"

"A month?" Saigo asked as she put her hands on the edge of the desk. "We can't wait a month!"

"Listen, this project will take two weeks at the least," Shouji said. "If you can't wait that long,..."

"Sounds good," Heiki interrupted. "Come on, Saigo."

"Can't they finish sooner?" Saigo asked as Heiki led her out of the room by the arm.

"No... Things take time, Saigo. Especially when you need to salvage parts to make the necessary device. Kemnee and Shouji will have to be creative in order to get an engine that I like," Heiki said.

They exited the building quietly, Heiki casting wary glances around him. The streets were a dangerous place when you didn't have a vehicle.

"Saigo, keep your head bowed. If anyone asks questions, I'll handle the talking. Got it?" Heiki said quietly.

"Yes, sir," Saigo said as she lowered her head.

"Follow me," Heiki said as he quickened his pace while still keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible.

He made his way across the street and into the middle of another street, his fingers clutching his pistols. He led Saigo down into an alley and stopped beside a dumpster.

"Get in and wait there until I knock on it fifty-five times," Heiki said, implying a different number.

Saigo nodded and climbed in as Heiki ran across the street into another building and up the stairs. He opened a door and quickly closed it behind him, shuddering from the stink of the place. The darkness was perfectly fine since he was used to it and it was his ally.

"Brought the girl?" a voice asked from a corner.

"Why do you need to know?" Heiki asked as he pulled up a chair.

"You mentioned her in the deal. I expect to be paid when my part of the deal is complete."

"So I did," Heiki said. "But how can I trust you to find a male human?"

The voice chuckled. "How do I know that you'll actually bring me the girl once I find the male?"

"Touche," Heiki said. "How about we go about it this way... once you get the guy, let me know. Then, you and I will bring the guy and the girl in our meeting. You get the girl for a while and I'll evaluate the guy to make sure that he's not a reploid."

"Sounds fine."

"Right. Let me know," Heiki said as he stood up. "Don't let me down. You know what I do to people that don't keep their end of the deal."

"You feed them tea and crumpets."

Heiki chuckled. "Poisoned tea and crumpets, Hakai. I find that to work out the best."

"Just don't do it to me or you'll have found a very dangerous enemy."

"I wouldn't think of it unless you betray me first," Heiki said as he opened the door and walked back down the stairs.

His eyes quickly readjusted to the sunlight as he emerged outside and smirked. He lifted his pistol and fired, a reploid standing next to the dumpster toppling to the ground.

"Idiot," he said as he neared the dumpster and knocked on it five times.

"Heiki?" Saigo asked.

"Did that reploid knock fifty-five times?"

"It did. I think it was considering to climb inside," Saigo said as she emerged from the dumpster, her clothes stained and her hair and skin a mess. "You owe me for this."

Heiki chuckled and helped her out of the dumpster while he holstered his pistol.

"That I do," he said as Saigo brushed herself off and picked a banana from out of her hair.


	3. Saigo's Past

"Saigo! Saigo! Where are you?" a slightly younger Heiki yelled as shots rained all around him in a wrecked city, seemingly devoid of life except for the reploids all around.

"Heiki!" she cried from a ruined building.

Heiki rushed into the building, pistols blazing as a group of reploids on either side of him fired. Heiki fell to the ground, his pistols sliding as they fell from his grip. Slowly, he looked up as the reploids that were left advanced, their footsteps almost robotic-like, a trait rarely seen in the recent past. Another reploid, apparently smarter than the others, clothed in a black trenchcoat, held a pistol to Saigo's head, sneering slightly.

"Oh, you wanted her?" the reploid asked mockingly.

"Phenom... why?" Heiki asked. "I... I thought."

"That I was your ally?" the reploid laughed. "You should've known better."

"Saigo," Heiki said softly as a tear rolled down a younger Saigo's cheek, "it'll be all right."

"I doubt it," Phenom chuckled.

"Father... I understand now..." Saigo said mystically as, slowly, her eyes glowed with an eery green light.

Heiki's jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he began to crawl away. "S-s-saigo?"

"What in the...?" Phenom said as he tried to look at Saigo.

Saigo broke from Phenom's grip and threw him over her back, fangs slowly emerging over her canines.

"Get her!" Phenom yelled before Heiki covered his mouth.

"No!" Heiki yelled as a burst of rounds fired.

The shots bounced harmlessly off of Saigo as she walked closer, slightly hunched over with a feral glare. She abruptly raised her hand and a spectral bear swirled into existence, its eyes the same glowing green as Saigo's.

"Hisan'na! I command you, as my father before me! Bow down to my wishes and destroy these enemies!" Saigo yelled, smirking slightly.

The bear instantly lunged as another volley of fire was directed towards it. Heiki watched in horror as the bear tore and bashed the reploids apart.

"Phenom," Saigo said as she pointed at Phenom, her voice echoing.

Heiki felt himself ripped violently from Phenom and thrown to a corner of the room with a pile of the reploids. Saigo's gaze shifted to Heiki, worry entering her face.

"Heiki? You okay?"

Heiki shook his head and woke with a start.

"Heiki?" Saigo asked, hovering over him with a concerned expression, wearing a clean batch of clothes. "Are you okay?"

Heiki wiped away some sweat from his forehead and tried to calm himself down as Saigo pulled out a cloth from her pocket.

"Y-yeah. I-I'm fine," he said as Saigo wiped his chin and forehead with the cloth.

"You seemed scared," Saigo said as she sat down next to him. "I've never seen you like that except for when..." She quieted and Heiki nodded.

"I'll never forget that, Saigo. No matter how much I see it, it always haunts me," Heiki said as he shuddered.

"I'm sorry... I kinda lost control..." Saigo said sadly as her head bowed.

"Don't be. You saved your life," Heiki said as he rubbed Saigo's shoulder.

"Hisan'na saved me. I could have done nothing without him," Saigo said and Heiki nodded. "Did you get to...?"

"No," Heiki said quickly, interrupting her. "No, I didn't see it this time."

"That's good," Saigo said as she rubbed her arm. "I... didn't like that scene either..."

Heiki nodded again, trying to shove the memory away. It was the worse he had seen of Saigo's moments of insanity.

"Ready for breakfast?" Heiki asked as he got up and extended his hand to help Saigo up.

"Yes, please," Saigo said with a small, sad smile as she accepted his hand.

Saigo followed Heiki outside into the light of the dawning sun, the ruined buildings' outlines becoming more clear. They walked towards the edge of the city, Heiki clutching his pistols tightly, heading towards a forest, Heiki planning on hunting.

"Wait here," Heiki whispered as he quietly entered the forest and Saigo nodded, crouching behind a tree.

The dew on the leaves slowly soaked through Heiki's boots as he wandered through the forest, checking all along the way for any signs of tracks. He let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. Saigo was probably feeding by herself by now. He tried to get her to eat real food as much as he could, but sometimes nothing ever came. Saigo looked up at the sun and nodded. He had been searching for about an hour.

He followed his own tracks back, warily scanning from side to side as he walked. A thought crept into his mind and he stopped. How old was he? He started walking, figuring out his own age. Umm, about thirty? He nodded, the number sounded about right. The next thought entered quickly. Was there any female counterpart to him? He stopped once again and repeated the question over and over in his mind. He scoffed and shook his head, resuming his pace. There was _no way_ that anyone would be a counterpart to him. Especially in this world. Most reploids that he knew were labeled maverick. A small minority were still sane. He stopped suddenly, disgusted at himself for the next thought. Kill Saigo and he could spend more time sifting through that minority instead of taking care of Saigo. His pace quickened, trying to shake the thought out of his head.

"Saigo?" he whispered as he got to the edge, still trying to rip the thought from his mind. "You there?" He searched around, a small scowl slowly spreading. "Told her to stay here!" he growled silently.

"And I did."

Heiki started but instantly relaxed and walked over to the voice. His nose wrinkled and he hid behind a tree as he saw what Saigo was sitting next to. A dead deer with fang marks in its neck.

"Saigo, you're sick," he muttered.

"Meh. It could be worse," she replied nonchalantly with a shrug.

"Got that right," he said under his breath.

"I heard that."

"Dang it," Heiki said as he walked away.

The thought reentered into his mind and, after what he had just seen, it seemed more feasible. He wouldn't have to deal with these kinds of moments anymore... Heiki stopped as he sensed his pistol being pulled out of its holster. He let out a breath and let the pistol slide back into the holster. These were moments he'd have to deal with while he was with Saigo. He'd have time to find a counterpart when his duty was finished. If Hakai kept his part of the deal, then Heiki could begin to do what he wanted to do. He groaned and put his hand on his forehead. Except for the fact that then he'd have to watch Saigo and the boy to make sure that nothing happens to either one of them. Which would be a wait of at least... ten years? Or longer if the kid they had was to be older than five years old.

"What's next?" Saigo asked as she came up behind him, making him jump.

"I dunno," Heiki said quickly, averting his gaze from her blood covered mouth.

"What? What did I do?" Saigo pleaded.

"Just look at yourself!" Heiki exclaimed, turning back to her with his arms raised. "You're covered in deer blood, there's deer blood on your mouth, and you don't really seem to care!"

"Oh," she said, wiping the blood around her mouth onto her shirt sleeve. "Better?"

"Ugh," Heiki groaned, covering his eyes with his hand. "Let's wash your clothes before they stain."

Saigo sighed. "Fine."

They walked back to the building they had stayed in for the night, Heiki covering his nose along the way from the stench of the blood. Inside, Heiki filled up a tub with water and waited as Saigo entered another room and pushed her clothes underneath the door to him. Heiki nodded as soon as he heard a shower start running. She knew the drill whenever something like this happened.

"Why me?" Heiki asked as he scrubbed the clothes, working the blood out from the fibers.

He sat down next to a wall with a heater next to him, placing the clothes on a mat in front of the heater. He looked at the plug of the heater and opened a compartment on his chest that led to his reactor The heater slowly began to whirr to life once he plugged it in and he watched the clothes, shifting them around when it was needed. Once they seemed to be dry, he unplugged the heater and shoved the clothes back underneath the door.

"Couldn't you do this faster somehow?" Saigo asked. "I always have to wait for you."

"There is no faster way," Heiki said as he closed his chest compartment. "We make do with what we have."

"We're dumping the water into the sewer, right?" Saigo asked, sighing slightly.

"As always," Heiki said as he picked up one end of the tub.

Saigo picked up the other end and they slowly began working their way down the stairs to the bottom level.

Once they reached the middle, Saigo asked, "Do you really think there's a male counterpart for me out there?"

"I don't know, but I try to find him anyway," Heiki said, putting the tub down so that Saigo could rest briefly. She had gotten stronger over the past two years, he noted.

"What'll you do when you're done protecting me?" Saigo asked as she picked up the tub again.

"Well, I'm thinking of trying to find myself a counterpart. Dunno if I'll ever find her in reploid society since it's pretty much broken down to low-level AI reploids that're all mavericks," Heiki replied with a small shrug.

"Is it as hard as my search?" Saigo asked as they neared a sewer drain.

"Probably not. There's more reploids than humans out there," Heiki said as they dumped the water into the drain.

"So our search is close to hopeless," Saigo said sadly as they walked away and towards their building.

Heiki grimaced. He should've anticipated this. He struggled to find comforting words to tell her as they walked up the stairs.

"Well," he began, still trying to form his words, "it may be that way... but I'll help you as much as I can."

"But why?" Saigo asked as they entered their room and set the tub down. "Why would go that far when you have better chances of finding someone than me?"

Heiki sat down on the ground and Saigo sat down next to him. Slowly, Heiki sighed, the thought tugging at him to just finish Saigo off. Slowly, he let out a sigh.

"This is my purpose, Saigo, and I intend to make sure that you're taken care of before I do anything," he said.

"Seems like wasted effort to me, risking life and limb just pursuing something that may not exist," Saigo said, frowning slightly.

Heiki chuckled. "I wouldn't say that."

"Why not?" Saigo asked, readjusting her sitting position.

Heiki shrugged. "I don't know. I guess, in a way, I wanna see the human race continue on. More specifically, I wanna know that you're taken care of."

"Really," Saigo said flatly, making Heiki cringe. "Seemed to me like you were annoyed with me after the little deer 'incident'."

Heiki sighed and got to his feet. "Okay, it's instances like that which don't really improve my opinion of you."

"So why do you do it?" Saigo asked, getting to her feet to face Heiki. "Why do you risk your life just to save me?"

"It's like I just said," Heiki said, a low growl escaping him as he tried to keep his temper under control. "I just wanna see you make it to a happy point in life."

Saigo raised an eyebrow and giggled. "You remind me of father."

"How so?" Heiki asked, leaning against the opposite wall.

"He was always optimistic and looking out for me even if he had other things that needed to get done," Saigo said as she smiled.

Heiki chuckled. "You liked your father, I'm guessing."

"He was my best friend in the world that we were in at the time," Saigo said, her tone drooping.

"In the world that you were in at the time?" Heiki asked.

"Well... like when I'd go to school, I was often among lots of reploids since the human population started to decline due to increasing maverick attacks," Saigo explained.

"Oh." Heiki chuckled. "At first I thought you were other-worldly."

Saigo giggled. "No, but we were slightly shunned since it was rumored that my father had strange dealings. Thus, I kinda took the brunt of these rumors and didn't really have friends. Most of my friends felt sorry for me, but didn't really associate too close to me."

"Because they believed the rumors," Heiki said quietly as he nodded.

"Exactly," Saigo said, nodding sadly. "Then my father pulled me aside one day and said, 'Saigo, I hear that things are happening in school. Anything you wanna talk to me about?' I finally broke down and told him everything." She smiled sadly. "Then he smiled at me and sat me down. 'Saigo, you don't need to listen to anything that those kids say because you're better than any one of them,' he told me. I asked him why and he replied, 'You may be getting persecuted for a rumor, but that rumor is quite true.' I remember looking at him and I think I scooted away from him, but he gently shook his head and said, 'No, Saigo. You don't need to be afraid. I'm just trying to explain things and why you can hold your head up high.'" Saigo smirked slightly and shook her head. "Then he told me about the Shaman lineage of our family and about Hisan'na. He told me that I would be able to call on it and other guardians according to my growing power and needs."

"So you have more than just the bear?" Heiki asked.

"Yep," Saigo said with a small smile. "I have a wolf as well which is an attacker. It was only recently that I've seemed to be able to incorporate the bear's spirit into my own, thus giving me the benefits of the bear without having to summon it into existence." She grimaced. "Unfortunately, I think I slightly lose control of myself whenever I do that."

"Is that what happened with the deer?" Heiki asked coldly, staring at Saigo from under his hood.

"Yeah..." Saigo said as she scratched the back of her head. "I think so. My memory doesn't really work well around the moment that I start using the Soul Integration."

Heiki nodded. "You mind showing me what you can do?"

Saigo cringed. "I probably could, but... I don't want to lose it and kill you."

"Don't worry. I just wanna see if you're actually combat-able. Then I won't have to worry so much."

Saigo stopped leaning against the wall and glanced around warily. "Well..." she began. "Okay, but somewhere where someone won't see us, okay?"

"Of course," Heiki said as he also stopped leaning against the wall.


	4. Unleashed

Heiki crashed through the underbrush of a forest, his cloak torn in all sorts of places, part of his synthetic skin on his face missing, and gripping his other arm that was dangling limply from its socket.

"Should've expected this," Heiki muttered as he barely avoided tripping on a root from a nearby tree. "But... how could she defeat me?" He grunted as a sudden drop in the terrain jarred his leg. "I thought she was a weakling..."

"Get back here!" Saigo yelled as she ran towards him, a green light glowing slightly from her eyes.

Heiki groaned as his pace increased painfully and he limped slightly. Heiki made rapid adjustments as he ran through the forest to avoid crashing into any trees while Saigo was slowly catching up with him. Just one last try...

Heiki grabbed his pistol and began charging it while he let his other arm dangle, each step making pain course through his limp arm.

"TAKE THIS!" he yelled as he abruptly spun around and fired a fully charged shot into Saigo, dust rising off of the ground that covered them both as the shot impacted.

Heiki dropped to the ground, his thoughts a muddle. On one hand, it was good that he could finally relax... but...

"Saigo?" he asked tensely as he crawled through the smoke towards Saigo's last location. "Oh, please, Saigo... Don't be dead on me..."

Heiki was abruptly pulled off his feet and held in the air, a clawed hand around his neck.

"Dead?" Saigo's voice sneered. "It takes a lot more than that to kill one with an integrated bear spirit."

"Saigo," Heiki choked as the dust began to clear, Saigo slowly becoming visible. "Y-you don't know what you're doing."

Saigo narrowed her eyes and scoffed before dropping Heiki to the ground, pain pulsing through every place in his body as he impacted.

"I suppose you don't need me anymore, kid," Heiki groaned as he painfully got up, only to collapse again. "I'll be seeing you sometime."

Saigo's expression softened and let herself fall to a sitting position, looking dazed as the claws slowly retracted.

"Heiki? I... I..." Slowly, Saigo began to convulse with tears.

Heiki suppressed a grin. Now to make her pay for the pain she had caused.

"I'll be going," Heiki said as he carefully stood up. "Good luck, kid."

"Heiki, don't leave!" Saigo screamed, reaching towards him.

"You don't need me anymore, so I might as well do my own thing," he said as he turned his back on her.

"I'm sorry!" Saigo yelled as Heiki started to walk away. "Heiki!"

Heiki cringed slightly as his steps continued on. Not from the pain from his body, but from Saigo's cries. Could he really just walk away from her? Slowly, he slowed his pace and looked back.

"Saigo?" he said quietly. "I... um..."

He quickly walked back, only to find Saigo gone. He walked quickly around the area, peering through the foliage, hoping to see if Saigo was still somewhere in the vicinity. Nowhere...

"No..." Heiki whispered to himself as his eyes widened. "SAIGO!" he yelled. "WHERE ARE YOU? I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

He broke into a run through the forest, thought it was slowed by his limp, glancing on every side for any sign of Saigo. He barely noticed a large hole in the ground and stopped at the edge, pieces of dirt crumbling off.

"Dang it!" Heiki said as he bent over the hole. "Saigo! Are you in there?" He waited tensely for a reply and groaned. "What have I...?" He groaned as he grabbed the edge of the hole and spun himself over the edge. The dirt was slightly moist... it'd be hard to have a foothold anywhere... He pulled himself out, ignoring the pain in his arm, and dropped a rock down the hole. The click of the rock impacting sounded and he nodded. It wasn't too deep. He could probably just drop down.

He swung over the edge and hit the ground, his legs buckling and jolts of pain shot through him.

"Saigo! Saigo!" he shouted as he steadily walked through. "Where are you?"

A sharp pain shot through Heiki's chest and he was flung to the ground, an indistinct shape bending over him holding a crude knife.

"Human ours," it said before jumping away.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Heiki yelled as he fired a barrage of bullets into the thing's back, making it crumple to the ground. "HANG ON SAIGO!" he yelled as he barreled through an underground passage.

He gripped his pistols tightly as the moist passage wound around, Heiki firing a burst as he rounded each bend, shouting out Saigo's name after each volley.

"Heiki!" Saigo screamed after one volley.

"I'm coming!" Heiki yelled as he gave another burst of speed.

Heiki barely stopped himself in time, avoiding a long fall to his death.

"Blast!" he muttered as he stood on the edge, looking at a bridge that was a long way from his position and below him about four stories. He groaned as he watched more creature's dragging Saigo into another chamber and he stepped back, only to find the passage blocked. He snarled as he heard a loud laugh start to ring along the walls.

"I'm surprised, Heiki, that you got here! Unfortunately, you're messing up my experiment."

"Aguthi! You're Hakai's right-hand man!" Heiki shouted. "He won't let you get away with this!"

"I don't intend to get caught," Aguthi stated plainly. "Now die."

Heiki lunged forward as a large lightning bolt came into existence and tore apart the ledge that he was standing on.

"Blast!" Heiki muttered as he fell, pulling out a small necklace with a symbol on it and muttering a phrase.

Instantly, an ethereal shield formed around Heiki as he fell and he tentatively tested it with a shot from his pistol. The shot instantly disappeared and Heiki nodded. This better work.

Heiki crashed into the ground below, dust being thrown up all around.

"Check it out," Aguthi said. A pair of the grotesque creatures walked out of a hidden door and slowly made their way towards the large crater and looked into it. One of them turned around and nodded.

"Take him alive and show him the girl," Aguthi snarled.

The creatures slowly lowered themselves down into the crater and picked up Heiki, who was just barely conscious. They dragged him out of the crater and into the hidden door, one of them jerking the necklace from off of Heiki's neck, Heiki barely aware of everything that was happening. His consciousness slowly awakened and he started to struggle weakly against the creatures' grip, making one hiss at him as it pulled him through another doorway that led to another edge, this one overlooking a bridge that led to a large circle with Saigo chained to the ground in the center of it, more of the creatures surrounding her. On all sides of the circle and the bridge was darkness. How long the fall was unknown. Heiki shook his head as he let the creatures chain him in front of the passage that led him to the ledge.

"You guys like your ledges, don't you..." he muttered.

He looked tenderly down at Saigo as she crouched, chains around her arms and legs to limit her movement.

"We figured that we'd let you see her for the last time, so say your good-byes," Aguthi said coldly.

"Saigo..." Heiki whispered, trying to shake the pain away from his throbbing body. "Saigo!" he shouted. Slowly, Saigo looked up, stains on her cheeks. They held each others gaze for a while before Heiki nodded. "Everything will be all right."

Saigo nodded, but then shook her head as her gaze dropped and one of the creature's drew a circle in the moist ground.

"Let it begin!" Aguthi shouted.

All at once, the creatures began chanting in an unknown language, a rhythm dictating their voices. Heiki nodded. This language... He had learned a little bit from Odin... A hero from the past... Slowly, Heiki started to mutter the phrases with them, analyzing each word as he went along. He stopped at one word and scowled.

"Demon," he whispered, attracting little attention from the two creatures guarding him. "Oy!" he said, attracting the attention of the two creatures. Vehemently, he said a phrase, spitting on one of the creatures at the end of it. The creature screeched and quickly hit Heiki across the face with the pole part of its spear.

"Oh, you didn't like that insult, did you?" Heiki said tauntingly, following up with another phrase in the foreign language.

The two creatures then began to argue with each other angrily as Heiki watched Saigo wrench violently to the side and contort in pain.

"Hang on, Saigo," he whispered before throwing out another insult to the creatures.

The creatures looked at him with their pitch-black eyes, then back at each other. Swiftly, one drove its spear towards Heiki's chest. Heiki grinned as he spun to the side, letting the chain connected to his arm take the blow, severing it.

"Thanks, mate!" he said as he pulled the spear away from the creature and drove it back at the creature as he dodged the other's spear and broke the chain on his other arm. He quickly grabbed the spear and started to pull on it as the creature leaned backwards to counter his power.

"Die," he said as he stopped pulling, letting the creature jerk back on the spear, and quickly wrenched the spear out of its grasp.

The creature lost its balance and stumbled backwards, falling off the edge as a screech escaped its throat and hitting the bridge while Heiki broke his remaining chains.

"I'm coming, Saigo!" he yelled as he jumped off the ledge towards the creature, the circle drawn by the creature below bursting to life with a red glow and mystic runes covering it.

The creature pulled back, a last screech emitting from it before Heiki drove the spear into its chest, breaking the blade of the spear from the pole. Instantly, the other creatures stopped chanting except for one and all turned to face him, their sickly-green skin covered by black cloaks. Heiki quickly snatched his necklace from the dead creature's hand and held it towards the other creatures, hoping that it would do something.

All at once, the creatures started chanting again, their cloaks fluttering as they did so. Heiki took a step forward, only to trip as chains sprouted from the ground and grabbed his legs and arms.

"Saigo!" he yelled as Saigo began to glow with a shimmering red light.

"Too much power in her," one of the creatures said as it drew towards Heiki, the other creatures still chanting. "We use for own purposes. Say 'bye-bye'," it said as it produced a knife and held it to Heiki's neck.

A bolt shot through the air and the creature tumbled backwards, a fatal shot to the heart. The necklace suddenly flared to life and the chains detached from the ground and from Heiki.

"Now this is more like it!" Heiki yelled as he grabbed the chains and whirled them as the rest of the creatures drew backwards and started to chant more intensely.

One by one, the creatures fell as Heiki hit them with the chains and pushing them off the ledge. He focused his attention on the last one, the one that was always chanting. He lunged towards it and stumbled backwards as he cried out in pain, invisible flames seeming to burn him. Several shots from above fired at it, only to reflect into the walls.

"Saigo!" Heiki yelled as Saigo's muscles strained and she hunched over, her hands forming into claws and her size noticeably increased. "Hang on!"

Saigo's shoulder blades started to protrude and she threw back her head and yelled,

"D-D-DAVEREN!"

Heiki gritted his teeth. This was going to hurt. With a yell, he ran across the ritual circle towards the creature, pain coursing through him, getting more intense with every step. The creature stepped to the side at the last moment, tripping Heiki with its leg. Heiki fell over the circle and barely managed to twist in the air to grab onto the edge, the creature grinning as it stood over him, grinning sadistically.

"You fool," it said with a deep rasp as it raised its foot.

Heiki let go with his one hand as the foot came down and grabbed it.

"You idiot," Heiki growled as he gave it a quick tug and the creature fell onto its back.

Heiki pulled himself up quickly, jumping over the creature's leg as it spun it around. Heiki bent over and pulled the creature to its feet by its collar and hit it across the face.

"I'm sick of you guys," he said coldly before throwing it off the edge, undisturbed by its yell.

Heiki ran back through the ritual circle towards Saigo as dark red thorns began to spread across her back.

"Saigo!" he yelled, pulling out the necklace.

"Stay away!" Saigo yelled as she hit Heiki to the ground, her face half-covered with a dark red exoskeleton, her eye glowing with a red light.

"Saigo, no! I'm here to help!" Heiki pleaded as he got up. He cringed as Saigo wrenched to the side, breaking the chain that kept her left arm bound.

"Go!" Saigo yelled as she broke the chain hooked to her leg, something looking like wings slowly protruding from her shoulder blades.

"Can't!" Heiki yelled as he ran towards her, sliding under a wide strike from her and jumping over a kick. "SANCTIFICATION!" Heiki yelled as he placed the symbol on the necklace on Saigo's forehead.

The symbol flared with a white light, searing the symbol into the red exoskeleton covering three-fourths of Saigo's face. Heiki pushed off from Saigo as she began to flail around, white light spreading across the exoskeleton like a crack splitting dry ground.

"Stay alive, Saigo," Heiki whispered as Saigo dropped to the ground, yelling in a new language, one that Heiki barely knew about.

Slowly, Saigo's movements became less violent until she lay still, the exoskeleton breaking apart in pieces and Saigo shrinking back to normal size.

"Saigo?" Heiki said quietly, tentatively walking towards her, looking for any sign of life.

He dropped to his knees beside her and rolled her over onto her back and cringed from the sight of blood covering parts of her face and her wide open eyes staring at nothing.

"No... No..." he said as he cradled her in his arms. "I failed you... I've failed humanity..."

"I tried my best," a new voice said, making Heiki instinctively pull out his pistol and point it in the direction of the voice.

"Friend!" a blond girl, clothed in black, said as she held her hands in the air.

"Oh... Eva..." Heiki said sadly, looking back at Saigo. "I... forgot your voice..."

Heiki jumped as Saigo's hand began frantically clawing the air and Saigo gasped.

"Saigo! Saigo, are you there? Can you hear me?" Heiki said as he grabbed her hand and held it tightly.

"H-Heiki!" Saigo screamed. "HEIKI!"

"I'm here, Saigo!" Heiki said as he held her close to him.

Saigo continued to claw the empty space for a few more moments before her arm dropped limply to her side and her body convulsed with her sobs.

"I'm here..." Heiki said soothingly as he started to rub her back. "Nothing will hurt you. Shhhh..."

"Heiki, I'm sorry," Saigo said as she clutched him tightly.

"No, Saigo. _I'm_ sorry. It was my fault that this happened," Heiki said. "Not yours."

"Th-th-there was nothing I could do," Saigo cried. "I couldn't do anything except submit to its power."

"What power?" Heiki asked.

Saigo hesitated. "Daveren..." she whispered, shuddering as she said it.

"Probably better go," Eva said quietly as she extended Heiki's pistols to him. "Figured you'd want these."

"Thank you," Heiki said as he grabbed the pistols and helped Saigo up. "Saigo, we've gotta go. Stick close to Eva and me."

Saigo bit her lip and nodded as Eva moved in close to her, Heiki taking the lead. They wound their way through the corridors, Heiki having a vague idea of the right passage. He looked around cautiously. There was a strange lack of resistance with the creatures... Either there was none left, not likely, or they were afraid, possible, or they were planning a trap...

Heiki slowed down slightly, warily scanning everywhere for any sign of a trap.

"Heiki? Why'd we slow down?" Eva asked.

"Being careful in case there's a trap," Heiki muttered.

"Ah. Don't bother. Killed them all on my way in," Eva said off-handedly and then blushed. "I got slightly lost."

Heiki chuckled. "I guess good job, then."

Heiki quickened his pace while keeping it within how fast Saigo could go, but Heiki kept on a lookout for anything out of the ordinary during the whole way.

"Light," Saigo gasped as she stopped and seemed to freeze.

"Saigo?" Heiki asked, turning towards her. "Saigo!" he shouted, his eyes wide open as he rushed towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "C'mon, don't lose me now!"

"Let's just grab her and go. She'll get used to it," Eva said as she picked Eva up and ran towards the light.

"No! Don't!" Saigo screamed, failing in Eva's grip. "It hurts!"

"We can't leave you here, Saigo!" Heiki said as he crouched next to the tunnel to the outside, holding his hands in a cup fashion.

Eva jumped into his hands and he pushed her up towards the top while Eva readjusted Saigo in her grip so that she could hold her with one hand. Eva grabbed the edge and nodded.

"Ready. It feels steady," Eva said, trying to keep holding on to Saigo despite Saigo's thrashing.

Heiki nodded and began to climb up Eva till he got to the top and helped her up.

"That was pretty awesome," Eva said with a grin. "I've always wanted to do that."

"It hurts..." Saigo whimpered as she tried to drop to the ground.

"We better get her into the dark," Heiki said. "I'll take her."

"Right. I'll meet up with Kemnee and Shouji. I'll bring them to your place, okay?" Eva said, nodding.

"Give me a tracker," Heiki said as he grabbed Saigo with one arm and held out his other hand. Eva pulled out an object from her pocket and placed it in Heiki's palm.

"Don't lose it," Eva said with a wink before turning away.

"Eva?" Heiki asked, making her turn around. "Model W?"

Eva grimaced. "Still working on it," she said and broke into a run.

"C'mon, Saigo," Heiki said as he cradled her in his arms and started to run out of the forest.

Saigo screamed in pain as they burst out of the cover of the forest and into the full sunlight and she gripped Heiki's cloak tightly.

"I... told you," she said through her clenched teeth.

"I'm with you, Saigo," Heiki whispered into her ear as he mentally hit his overdrive.

Instantly, his steps became quicker and quieter as two longswords appeared on his waist along with several knives including one positioned under his ring finger.

"Thank you, Shouji," he muttered. Almost to the city.

"Heiki, I'm about to lose it!" Saigo screamed.

"No, you won't!" Heiki said as he ran even faster.

Heiki could feel the exoskeleton forming as its spiny thorns began driving into his skin. He reached the city limits and dashed into the nearest unoccupied apartment, looking for a dark corner. He flung open one door and quickly placed Saigo into a corner. Saigo sighed and closed her eyes as the exoskeleton began to fade away.

"Why were you going berserk?" Heiki asked as he knelt down next to her.

"It must be trying to preserve its life," Saigo muttered tiredly.

Heiki nodded and brushed away some of Saigo's bangs. "Just rest okay?"

Saigo nodded sluggishly and let her head rest against the corner of the wall.

"Good," a voice chuckled as the door slammed shut.

Heiki jumped to his feet and felt the sharp pain of a club slamming into his face, knocking him into the ground.

"H...Hakai?" Heiki groaned.

"Correct." Heiki heard before the club hit him again.


End file.
